Friday, December 26, 2008

I whant a Addi amaranken girl doll. I whant a Kit amaranken girl doll. The books whould be grate to. And I whantlittlst pet shop. Have a very Mary Crimiss!

I love you!

XOXOXO

From my 5 year old son who dictated his letter:

Dear Santa,

I would like a monster truck, a transformer and that is all. I am glad you are not on Satan's team because neither am I. That's it, I'm done.

I know it sounds cheesy, but I am fortunate to be a member of such a great family. I often tell my in-laws I would have married Dan just to be a part of the group. But as it worked out I happened to fall in love with their son so there was no moral dilemma.

At the end of every day I'm a wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt, in-law, and friend. Most days I wonder how I can juggle so many hats. But today I'm thanking God for every one of those relationships. As if the birth of Christ weren't enough, he has seen fit to give me gift after gift in the people I love. For me, it's been that kind of Christmas, which makes it one of the best I've had. The trick is to maintain that focus every day.

I have a sneaking suspicion that conviction is a gift, too.

So that's my Christmas story. What about you? What was your Christmas like?

My daughter is 23 and she let me know one of the American Girl dolls is being retired - maybe I should get some of the last few accessories to round out her collection. I suggested she start one for her own future daughter! We still have Littlest Pet Shop at our house for when others' kids come over. That and My Little Pony were really big around here, many happy Christmases ago.

My kids informed us that they didn't believe in Santa anymore - they're 10 & 11. We told them when you stop believing you get underwear for Christmas. Needless to say their stockings were full (of underwear) and the first 4 or 5 gifts they opened were...you guessed it...underwear. My son laughed. My daughter was highly offended. She kept saying, "I TOLD YOU THAT I BELIEVED!!!"

Ours was very peaceful, after a "speed-worship" on Christmas Eve (obviously the pastor had somewhere else he needed to get to, it kinda felt like the Lords blood was a "chaser" to the Lords body)I actually got the kids to go to bed early so I could get all the busy work done and get some sleep too.

Nobody whined, rolled their eyes or grunted all day. THAT in itself is a blessing.

We had a great Christmas. My youngest sat patiently while all the gifts were passed out. That's a new move, so we questioned why she was sitting so sweetly waiting on others and she said, "this is me being patient, what do you think about it?" Patience and my little one have never met before, so this was our own Christmas miracle ;)